Things to know about the Olympic boycott
The China Letter: December 10, 2021
Perhaps the biggest development in the Western World demonstrating dissent with the policies of Beijing took place this week—but was it enough to change anything? A new report also detailed how bad things are for journalists in China, while visits from the CEO of Apple were exposed. Read on for these stories and more in this weekly update.
The world is waking up
Canada joined the diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Olympics after several allies took a stand about the state of China. The ball got rolling in the White House, with the U.K., Australia and New Zealand quickly linking in. And yet, France officially finds it insignificant if athletes are still going, while the rest of Europe is dithering about a decision.
Beijing lashes right back
China’s response to the Western diplomatic boycott announcements included warning that the U.S. would “pay the price,” and how the countries “blindly following” the lead of Washington would similarly be punished in unspecified ways. An example of the typical Chinese ambassadorial response can be read in this rebuke levelled at Canada.
Journalists getting jailed
Reporters Without Borders says journalists working in China are experiencing a “nightmare” environment worthy of the Mao era, in a report that counts 127 currently detained reporters. “The Great Leap Backwards of Journalism in China” is their unprecedented investigation, which also looks at Hong Kong press freedom dying.
Past antics from Apple
Tim Cook spent a lot of time in China in the mid-2010s, and the reasons why were uncovered in documents by tech website The Information: the Apple CEO was meeting with the government to lobby for a friendlier relationship amid protectionist policies. During that period, Apple also invested $1 billion in the Chinese ride-hailing app Didi.
A crackdown continues
Chinese social media platform Weibo issued a list of usernames that would have to be changed to conform with Beijing’s new campaign to scrub its internet of elements of youth pop culture deemed detrimental. But a concurrent Hong Kong stock market listing for Weibo flopped upon a debut designed to give greater control of it to Beijing.
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